1988 Rover - Austin Maestro Van Den Plas 1.6 (S Series)

Summary:

Cheap, fast and roomy. Outruns BMW's!

Faults:

Faulty thermostat.

Crash damage to near side front wing and bonnet.

Head Gasket is just developing a leak.

General Comments:

I had an Austin Maestro 1.3 CITY x before this one, and it lasted 4 years and 50,000 miles without hardly a problem. It was economical, reliable and it wasn't exactly fast, but it kept up with most cars. and even though it is now 14 years old it still has no rust. Yes, I still have it! Anyone want it?

Now I have a 1.6 Van Den Plas, and I am very, very impressed with it. It's quick, responsive, economical, roomy, comfortable, and for a 1980's car it's quite luxurious.

The head gasket is just starting to leak, and yes that is a pain, but you have to expect these things with a 13 year old car, and after I've sorted it I'm hoping it will see at least another 4 yrs of life in it.

If you are looking for a cheap, fast car, then this is the one for you!

26th Aug 2004, 16:01

10th Apr 2005, 14:49

A fifth gear seemed like a good idea to me too, when I had my E-reg Maestro. After it was written off by a welder's van, however, I got the F-reg with sunroof and a 5-speed box... and it's surprisingly sluggish. I am about to give the alternator some attention in the hope that this will fix the problem, but all the gears seem to be taller in the F-reg car. You would expect 4th to be higher in a 4-speed box than in a 5-speed, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I realise that Austin bought the gearboxes from VW, rather than producing their own, so maybe the odd gear ratios are indicative of something that happened in the Golf rather than the Maestro.

17th Mar 2006, 17:22

The 5 speed gearbox linkage is particularly vague and unreliable too. When it broke I managed to stick it in 3rd and drove it 20 miles in the one gear, five up. Strange beast, the Maestro L, but I look back on it with fondness, not so the SIERRA Ghia 3 speed auto, I was running at the same time. Probably because although it was rubbish, a hammer and a set of molegrips were all you needed to get you home. Oh dear, I've just remembered that bleeding awful engine management system.